Versions Compared

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.

UK

Currently (late 2013June 2015) some of the UK BUFR radiosonde data on the GTS is reformatted TEMP reports (separate parts), within the Met Office radiosonde stations are providing high-resolution (two-second) BUFR reports are available.  The high-resolution reports have undergone extensive testing and teething problems have been resolved, they will be transmitted on the GTS at some point.  They use a new BUFR template that includes height but not pressure (in preparation for future radiosondes that may not include a pressure sensorin the standard template (TM309052, GTS bulletins IUKN01 EGRR and IUSN01 EGRR), the other stations will be added shortly.  (Until recently UK radiosonde data in BUFR was sent as both reformatted TEMP reports and high-resolution reports using alternative template TM309055 without pressure; as various NWP centres could not use the reports without pressure it was decided to change template).  An article on the O-B statistics for TEMP, BUFR and BUFR with treatment of radiosonde drift has been submitted to appeared in ASL (treatment of drift gives some improvement to the upper-level statistics, for consistent improvement the correct time has to be used as well as the correct horizontal location).  Operational assimilation of the high-resolution UK reports (including treatment of drift) in the UKV system is expected to start in about April started in July 2014.  Global assimilation of some BUFR data (radiosonde and surface) is expected to start later in 2014 following a period of monitoring.  Some radiosonde BUFR data is being monitored in the global NWP system.  

Reference: Ingleby B. and Edwards D.  2015: Changes to radiosonde reports and their processing for numerical weather prediction.  Atmospheric Science Letters, 16: 44-49. doi: 10.1002/asl2.518
     http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asl2.518/abstract